


Scintilla

by Lavender_Summoner



Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: Drabble, Drabble Collection, Everyone/Everyone - Freeform, F/F, F/M, Gen, M/M, Multi, Reader-Insert, everyone is happy and everyone lives
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-24
Updated: 2018-01-30
Packaged: 2019-03-08 19:16:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,563
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13464786
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lavender_Summoner/pseuds/Lavender_Summoner
Summary: A collection of drabbles featuring the warrior of light (and a few others). Requests open.Drabble 2: The Warrior of Light and a certain grumpy dragoon are forced to seek refuge in an inn during a blizzard. Unfortunately the only room available has one bed. (Estinien/WoL fluff)





	1. Lost and Found

**Author's Note:**

> Scintilla: (n) a tiny trace or spark of a specified feeling

You woke up in a cold sweat, clutching at your chest and breathing heavily. You tried to calm yourself, but the images of cold, dead bodies littered the inside of your mind. You didn't remember what came before or after the bodies; they were ever present, unfortunately, unlike the beginning and end of your morbid dream. You found yourself sticky with sweat, and opted to change into your only other pair of night clothes. You decided to take a walk down the corridor of the camp's few rooms to clear your mind. You couldn't remain composed, and your eyes drifted downwards to the sunny warmth that shone underneath a door at the end of the hall: Haurchefant's. You arrived at his door clad in a wool blanket and your night clothes; nights in Coerthas brought beautiful stars, but they also brought a fierce wind and cold. Though your knees were practically knocking together with all your shivering, you couldn’t be bothered to change, and his room was close enough anyhow. Three swift knocks later, and there Haurchefant stood, eyebrows raised as he inspected the late-night visitor.

“And what brings you to my quarters so late at night, my friend?” Haurchefant asked, and you were silently relieved that he was more composed than you expected him to be. You were just as relieved when he ushered you inside with a, “poor thing, you must be freezing.” 

Haurchefant’s room was, thankfully, warm and welcoming, and you took in the simple furnishings: a bed in the corner, an armchair, a table, and a simple tub behind a screen, all warmed by a rather large hearth. He entered, closed the door behind him, and rubbed your arms as if to speed up your defrosting process. 

“Is something amiss?” he said softly, and you assumed that he understood by the bags under your eyes and the way you seemed to shrink into yourself. You glanced down and shuffled your feet.

“I can’t sleep. Can I stay here?” you quietly said.

A small smile appeared on his face, and after briefly composing himself, he responded. 

“Of course. My chambers are always open to the Warrior of Light.”

You cringed. Warrior of Light, that’s what you were. Hardly a person, simply a tool. The way your face fell did not go unnoticed, and Haurchefant took your face in his calloused hands. 

“I’m sorry. Would you like to unload your burdens on me, my dear?” 

My dear. That was better, you preferred sweet pet names from Haurchefant, though your face flushed red as the fire dancing in the hearth. His question did not go unanswered, however, and you found yourself sitting at the edge of his bed, Haurchefant himself seated right next to you. 

You sighed. Where to start? Mayhaps you should start by saying you never wanted to be some grand hero; you never wanted to be the single reason so many of your comrades and friends had died untimely deaths. Maybe you should continue with the fact that being a grand hero gets stale quite fast, and end with explaining how you wanted to be vulnerable, feel human, be human. Your vision blurred into an oil painting of warm colors.

“Oh, please don’t cry,” Haurchefant whispered, rubbing your back soothingly, and it took you a beat to realize that you were, indeed, crying. Unfortunately, this realization made all the other emotions you had kept bottled up in some dark cavern in your mind come tumbling out. You tried to stop the tears, you really did, but you found yourself sobbing into your hands. 

“I’m sorry,” you said, and you weren’t quite sure what you were sorry for. Haurchefant shook his head and continued to rub your back. 

“There’s nothing you need apologize for.”

“I’m sorry,” you repeated, “I’m so sorry.” You kept on like that for a few moments, repeating the phrase like a prayer. 

Haurchefant finally pried your hands from your face and held them gently, running his fingers over your knuckles. 

“How long have you been holding in all this guilt, all this pain?” 

You couldn’t respond. He embraced you and touched his forehead to yours. 

“You may bring your worries to me. You may bring any torment, any suffering, and share it with me. There’s no reason you should let it fester inside you.”

Haurchefant’s voice was so gentle, and his words so kind. You brought your face to his shoulder, and he placed a hand on the back of your head. You thanked him, clutching onto him for dear life. He rocked you back and forth. Eventually the tears subsided. 

You peered up at him, head still on his shoulder, and he sighed in relief. 

“You scared me, my dear. I feared I would have to take you far away from all this Warrior of Light business; at least, until you recuperated,” Haurchefant joked, and you chuckled. 

“Haurchefant,” you started, throwing your arms around his shoulders, and a light blush dusted his cheeks and the tips of his ears, “Thank you.”

A soft smile crept onto his face, and he moved forward hesitantly, as if asking for permission to seal his lips with yours. You closed the distance; the kiss was short and sweet and genuine. Resting here with someone who meant so much to you--it was the most human you had felt in ages.


	2. Hearth and Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Warrior of Light and a certain grumpy dragoon are forced to seek refuge in an inn during a blizzard. Unfortunately the only room available has one bed. (Estinien/WoL fluff)

It had been a relatively simple request: Estinien and you were to clear an aevis infestation in the Coerthas Highlands. The two of you were the most trustworthy, Aymeric had reasoned, and this job, though seemingly simple, was of dire importance, it being on a major road.

As you both had surmised, it was a simple job, and the cleanup passed rather quickly. An oncoming blizzard, however, had forced Estinien and you to seek refuge in a nearby inn.

Struggling against the strong winds to push the wooden door behind you closed, your companion and you entered, the former opting to wait towards the entrance. You gave Estinien a passing glance as you strolled up to the woman attending the front, smoothing out the wrinkles in your clothes.

“Hello. I don’t suppose you would have any rooms available, would you?”

The woman glanced between you and the dragoon, a small smile on her face. It was slightly unnerving.

“Well, my dear, Halone smiles upon you today! I have exactly one room left. Will your husband and you be taking it?”

You sputtered.

“Excuse me?!” you all but yelled, a blush turning the entirety of your face crimson, and the woman winced.

“Oh, my sincerest apologies. You two haven’t gotten married yet, then?”

“Married? Yet?”

You looked at Estinien incredulously, but his armor kept you from discerning his expression. His arms were crossed against his chest, and you thought you could see a twitch of his lip, but it was clear he was leaving this awkward situation entirely up to you.

The woman beckoned you closer, her smile growing wider. You had half a mind to leave and sleep outside, with naught but the blizzard’s winds to rock you to sleep. You obliged the woman, however, quietly stepping forward until her thin lips were but a couple ilms away.

“As soon as you two walked into this inn, I could sense it,” she whispered, and your confusion must have showed starkly on your face, as she continued: “When you’ve lived as many summers as I’ve, you get a nose for what I like to call….lovers’ tension.”

You had quite a few questions running through your head, but you didn’t get to ask them. While you were engaged in this strange conversation, Estinien had come up behind you, placed a heavy hand on your back, and interrupted:

“The blizzard won’t be subsiding anytime soon. Just get the room. We can discuss the finer details at a later time.”

You wondered when “a later time” would be, but sighed and gathered the gil from the pouch around your waist, placing it on the wooden counter. The woman gave you a sly wink, explained how to get to the last available room, and placed a set of silver keys in your palm.

The room itself was a standard inn room, and while you prayed fervently that it would have two beds, it had but one moderately sized bed tucked in a corner. Estinien let out an angry huff, and you plopped yourself on the bed with another sigh.

“It’s a later time,” you said flatly, your eyes shifting to a now-helmetless Estinien. His hair was just as silky as it had always appeared, and you found yourself admiring his delicate white eyelashes, and the way they contrasted his deep-set steel blue eyes. He raised an eyebrow, and you quickly looked away as you felt a blush coming up.

Estinien sighed, and moved a piece of hair behind his ear. He grumbled something that you couldn’t quite make out.

“Sorry?”

“I said,” he started, crossing his arms and looking away (though a light blush tinted his ears), “If you have no qualms about it, we may share the bed.”

Unsure of how to accept without sounding too eager (to be fair, you were a bit eager; you had been pining after the dragoon for a while), you decided to go with: “If that’s okay with you, then I, too have no qualms about it.”

Estinien grunted and began the process of shedding his armor. You did the same, though you noticed the elezen turn his head as you began undressing. The kind gesture was meant, you assumed, to preserve your modesty.

You were dressed in little more than your smallclothes; as was your companion. His eyes seemed to trail down your form and up again, and you suddenly felt very self-conscious. You silently chided your foolishness: you could fell a primal, but heavens forbid the man you have been pining after see you in your nightclothes.

“Well,” Estinien started awkwardly, and you felt a smile tugging at your lips; you had never seen him behave in a way that wasn’t brash and confident. Awkward Estinien, you decided, was rather adorable.

You waited for him to continue, but he never did. Instead, a silence pierced only by the crackling of the hearth and the low hum of the blizzard outside left you both uncomfortable.

“After you,” Estinien finally muttered, motioning towards the bed, his face now the same shade of pink as his ears.

You slowly climbed under the thin sheets into the side next to the stone wall, which you instantly regretted: it was surprisingly cold to the touch. Because of the broadness of Estinien’s form, however, you found your back against the wall, and your chest against his arm. A sharp shiver ran up your spine.

It wasn’t supposed to be this way, you thought bitterly, feeling especially bitter at the fact that the bed was much, much smaller than it initially appeared. You tossed and turned, attempting to find some semblance of warmth, until Estinien’s sharp words caused you to pause.

“If you do not stop fidgeting--”

You let out a huff of air. You could respond to his biting remark, but you decided that you were far too tired to start an argument, and opted for muttering an apology instead.

You heard the rustling of sheets as the dragoon shifted and brought them up to his shoulder. You fought the urge to groan as you realized that the blankets were completely covering your face; only the crown of your head was visible. Though, admittedly, you were a bit warmer, it was difficult to breathe with sheets in your face.

You slowly wiggled up so that your face was at least above the covers, and realized that you were left with hardly any of the sheets. They were bundled up around Estinien. You tried your damndest to stay quiet as you coaxed the sheets over your shoulder.

“What are you doing.”

It was more of a statement than a question, and you suddenly felt heat pool in your cheeks. You clenched your fists and attempted to take a deep, calming breath, but Estinien yanked the sheets back towards him and something inside you snapped.

“Estinien,” you hissed, “My back is against this twelves forsaken wall that is colder than Shiva’s--,” you paused, trying to keep your anger in check, and said, “Give me the sheets.”

The dragoon’s back was facing you earlier, but apparently your outburst piqued his interest, because he was now directly in front of you, a ghost of a smile on his face. The room was lit only by the low flames of the room’s hearth and the silvery glow of moonlight filtering in through a small window, and you suddenly found yourself admiring the way the milky light bathed Estinien in an ethereal glow. Now certainly wasn’t the time for any of these feelings, but your cheeks grew hot.

Estinien seemed to relish in the fact that you stopped mid-argument to stare at him, and you practically saw the cogs working in his mind as his brows furrowed.

His muscled arms pulled you over and hoisted your frozen body upon his chest. The only legible thought you had was “Twelve take me.” Here you were, on top of the Azure Dragoon, who was holding you against him, in the same bed. Twelve take me, you thought again, grasping at the front of his shirt nervously.

“Better?” Estinien asked, pulling the covers over you both.

You gaped like a fish out of water and attempted to put together some kind of witty response or action or anything that would make you look less like a frail maiden in love and more like the Warrior of Light, but instead you blurted out, “Yes, you’re as warm as I imagined.”

TWELVE TAKE ME.

Your eyes widened. This was it. This was the one idiotic phrase that would get your privileges as Warrior of Light revoked. The gossip would spread quick around Eorzea: the famed Warrior of Light was fantasizing about a handsome Elezen dragoon. As gossip usually goes, the story would become twisted somewhere down the line, and would probably end up as “Warrior of Light pounces on dragoon: some say it was an assassination attempt.”

You felt a gentle hand smoothing hair away from your forehead, and your thoughts immediately came to a halt. You peered up to see said dragoon, a soft smile you had never seen on him gracing his face. He chuckled and rested his hands on your lower back.

“So you oft thought of me?”

With a blush you responded, “I did, you thick-headed fool. Obviously my rather blatant attempts at courting you failed.”

Estinien scoffed.

“I’m the thick-headed fool? I almost threw your body upon mine so you would not freeze during the night, and here you are, not understanding that I return your feelings.”

You did not know how to respond, so you didn’t.

Estinien sighed and pressed your head to his heart. It was rather calming, listening to his heartbeat like this. You hummed contently, and adjusted yourself so you were more comfortable. Your eyelids felt heavy, but you managed to mumble one more sentence before you surrendered yourself to sleep.

“Estinien, I love you.”

The dragoon’s expression softened. The finer details could be discussed at a later time.

“And I you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I redid this about 10 times and still couldn't get Estinien's character right ;; if you have any advice....please share orz

**Author's Note:**

> You can also request shorter things/prompts/etc at my tumblr: baymeric!  
> Thanks for reading ╰(*´︶`*)╯♡


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